'One Thing LA' Uncovers The Best Of Los Angeles

Sarah Fuss Kessler is a practitioner in the art of slow blogging. Each week, she selects “one painstakingly researched Los Angeles thing” for her website and email newsletter, One Thing L.A., which debuted last spring. A native Angeleno and former food editor at
Yahoo, Kessler has perfect radar for what is surfacing, worth tasting or so cool you needed to get there yesterday. I asked Kessler about an approach to digital sharing that is decidedly local, organic and artisanal.

Why just one thing?

I am detail oriented. I go for quality over quantity. These posts take time. I’m a big researcher. Also, L.A. is huge city so I’m naturally drawn to orienting myself wherever these special objects or places or people are. Having spent so much time online editing, I also craved something simpler. I wanted to send an email. A little nodule enclosed inside your inbox – that can make an impact.

Sometimes, it’s a person or activity that is hard to find. It might be an object you would otherwise overlook. I think of my community and the people in my life and what kinds of discussions we are having, and when that information can be of service. If it improves your life and I like it, it qualifies.

My husband, Mike Kessler, is a journalist and I am a big researcher and we go crazy in our research for larger ticket items. I want things but I want them to be the right things for me. We found an amazing shop called Single Stone in a high rise downtown. They design vintage pieces and have access to all types of stones because they are in a sort of beehive with other jewelers. You think of something and they bring the stone right up for you to consider.

What’s a perfect Los Angeles day for you?

I like to drive up into Topanga Canyon from the Valley and drive to the ocean, stopping at what feel like hidden treasures along the way. Vintage shops, little stores with candles and handcrafted items. I love Froggy’s, a restaurant like none other in L.A. They have board games and a quirky view from the trees into the canyon.

Great night out?

At Largo at the Coronet, you can see huge comic celebrities try out new material. Sarah Silverman, Bill Hader, Dana Carvey, Judd Apatow -- they all show up and sometimes as unannounced guests. It’s also the kind of place where someone like Andrew Bird plays before he plays the Greek.

What about dining?

The Commissary is chef Roy Choi’s restaurant at the Line Hotel in Koreatown. He has a greenhouse restaurant on the roof and a pictographic menu with items like old-school hash browns, which are very dear to my heart. For a big deal meal, it is difficult to do better than Providence. I also love Lucques. The restaurant is situated in a 1920s carriage house. I’m drawn to places—and things—that are small and nookish and beautiful inside.

Okay, so hit us with your all-time favorite L.A. “thing.”

The Spare Room at the Roosevelt Hotel

One? You’re killing me. But, here goes: The Getty Villa has a gold laurel wreath that is completely intact from 300 – 100 BC. People forget about the Villa. It is overshadowed by the Getty Center. But the fact that this piece is so delicate and complete and brilliant after all these years is just shocking. It feels like a magical object. That, and the two hidden bowling lanes inside a small bar called The Spare Room at the Roosevelt Hotel. That’s pretty neat.

I write regularly for Forbes Life and many other publications including The New York Times, Esquire, Parade, O Magazine, Playboy, GQ, Town & Country, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and more. More about me at http://www.davidhochman.com